The Holy Land Final Post: Masada, Qumran, Dead Sea and Jericho

MASADA

This was the biggest surprise of the whole trip. I had never heard the story of Masada before and had no real idea of why it was on our itinerary or even the historical significance of this place. However, after being there and hearing the story while walking atop this plateau, this was one place that left a powerful impression on me.

Let me tell you the story.....

Back in 37 AD, Herod the Great was worried about coming under attack and being defeated, so he decided to build an impentrable fortress on top of this mountain. This is the only mountain in the entire Judean Mountain range that is a completely isolated plateau. The only way up was to scale the 450 meter vertical cliffs! It was a perfect place for a King to defend himself!

Herod built an incredible palace on top of this mountain and made it completely self-sufficient with it's own highly advanced cisterns that stored rainwater. He built 3 levels to his palace, and had military barracks, an armory, and storehouses which were enormous and held food enough to feed an army and more! The bathhouses were also extremely advanced for the time with all kinds of steam and heating techniques used. It truly was a little piece of heaven on earth - especially considering the landscape was desert!

The remains of one of the highly advanced bathhouses....you can still see some of the original mosaic tiling. This place would have been all splendor when it was in use!

Herod eventually died and it was left alone for awhile. Then came the Romans and their invasion of the land - capturing, pillaging and killing the Jewish zealots that they found. There was a group of 967 zealots and their families who escaped to this mountain fortress of Masada. They were followed by the Romans......an army consisting of 10,000......but were untouchable as the Romans had no way of being able to attack them!

There atop this plateau, they lived off the food stored in the storehouses and the water that could be collected through the rainwater cisterns that had been left from Herod's day. They were able to grow enough food on the little plot of land and were able to live off it all for a total of 3 years, until the Romans made that impossible.

Once the Romans realized that there was nothing they could do to capture the zealots but to penetrate their fortress, they devised a plan. The only way to penetrate the fortress was to build a ramp all the way to the top of the mountain. This they worked on for a total of three years..........pebble after pebble, stone after stone was piled on top of each other until the rocky ramp was stable enough and high enough to reach the top. They then erected a wooden battering ram and readied it to finally attack the fortress. In the meantime, the zealots had fortified the area where they knew the Romans were going to attack. They used huge wooden beams from parts of the palace and built a solid wall at the predicted point of attack.

These are the remains of the Roman ramp that took 3 years to build........it came all the way up to the lowest point of Masada.

The day came when the Romans readied the battering ram, lit it on fire and attempted to burn the fortified fortress as they struck it with force. The wind changed directions and began to burn the Roman's wooden battering ram! When defeat looked inevitable, the wind shifted again and began burning the fortress! Soon after, the defense was down and the Romans could see victory coming. It was late at night and they knew the zealots had no way of escape so they went back down for a good night's sleep and planned to seige the fortress in the morning.

When realizing the fight was over, the zealot men held a meeting. It was decided that they would all rather kill themselves and their families than to be captured, fearing what worse fates awaited their women and children in the hands of the Romans. With that, they decided that each man would first kill his own family and then they would systematically kill each other. They drew lots and 10 were given the task of killing the remaining men and then each other with the last man having to fall on his own sword.

When morning came, there was an eery silence as the Romans climbed up the mountain to take the fortress. When they reached the top they discovered the shocking reason for the silence - 960 dead bodies. After searching the entire fortress, they found 2 old women and 5 children who had survived by hiding from their families within the cisterns. It was they who told the story of what happened. There was no celebration that day as they realized the courage and resolve of the people they had been fighting against for 3 years.

The Romans left the fortress and it remained virtually untouched for almost 2,000 years. It was "rediscovered" and began to be preserved in the 1960s and is now an important piece of history in the region. The army of "Occupied Palestine" holds their swearing-in ceremony at the top of this mountain each time new recruits graduate with the pledge that "never again will Masada fall".

Like I said, I had never before heard this story and found it very moving to be atop this fortress and see the place where it all happened and to look down and see the remains of the Roman camps and the ramp that led to the mass suicide of a people so determined to not fall into the hands of a brutal and cruel invading army.

Fortunately, we didn't have to hike up the mountain in the sweltering heat, but could take the cable car instead! :)

Cable car dock at the top!

Going up!

You can see the footpath and the people who look like ants because we are so high up!

The view from the top was simply breathtaking. It was easy to see why Herod chose this lone mountain top for his fortress....you could literally see for miles on all sides.

That blue body of water in the distance is the Dead Sea! In the lower right hand corner, you can see the remains of one of the Roman camps (the square) that was built while they were trying to build up the ramp.

Here's a closer shot....

Pretty bleak and barren desert landscape....

There were still A LOT of the original ruins left.........here are some pics of those.

Dorky tourist picture #457........LOL.......I know, the hat looks ridiculous, but it was INCREDIBLY hot up there and it was the only full-coverage one I could find at the gift shop!

The northern tip of Masada where Herod's 3-tiered palace is built into the cliffs.

Looking down from the northern tip.......it's a LONG way down there!

Out a window of one the ancient remains....

Here we all are after an hour up there on top of Masada.......were we ever wiped after that direct sun and heat up there!

From Masada, we drove about an hour to Qumran - where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

One of the caves in the valley where scrolls were found...

This is the cave where the entire book of Isaiah was found!

More of the surrounding area....

From Qumran, we drove right to the Dead Sea for a refreshing dip after a long day in the sun!

Classic Dead Sea pose..........floating and reading the newspaper! LOL

So pretty......wish we could have spent more time relaxing by the Sea, but alas we had to still quickly go to Jericho....

This would be me in Jericho......

The Monastery of the Temptation

This tree is over 2,000 years old and they say it is the same sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus. (Luke 19:1-4) I thought it was kind of funny to see all the gutras and egals (Arabic men's head coverings) hanging on the fence.....

Well, the last few pics.......here are just a few random pictures I took along the way.........

Coca-Cola in Hebrew!

A pretty flower....

This was on the door at a museum we went to..........LOL.......makes you realize you're not in Canada anymore......

I had seen these blue McDonald's signs every so often while we were there, but wasn't sure why they were blue until we got close enough to read the sign...........Blue = Kosher!

This concludes my trip to the Holy Land! :)

Next Adventure = Rome, Ephesus, Crete & Athens

T-15 sleeps and counting..... :)